Dirk V
Reviewer

     Seventy years after it was first released, Frank Capra’s “It Happened One Night” is still a funny and entertaining film. Few films can overcome their time periods without appearing silly. However, “It Happened One Night” is still as humorous and clever now as in 1934 when it became the first film to win the top five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director and Screenplay. Hollywood legend Clark Gable plays Peter Warne, a down-on-his-luck newspaper reporter who happens across Ellen Andrews, a millionaire’s daughter, on a bus. Andrews, played by Claudette Colbert, ran away because her father will not let her be with her husband. Believing this to be a great story, Warne decides to help reunite Andrews with her husband in New York. Along the way they encounter many mishaps while trying to avoid being caught by her father’s detectives, and the spoiled heiress begins to fall in love with the reality-hardened newspaperman.
 
     Gable is superb as Warne. In a comedic role much different than his usual tall, dark and handsome rolls, Gable shines. Delivering gags and one-liners so naturally, it seems as if he was born for the role. His drunken ravings and his witty and patronizing banters with Colbert are so well performed that it is almost impossible to believe this to be the same man who played the suave and mysterious Rhett Butler. Seeing him excel in such a different role, it is no wonder he was awarded best actor.
 
     While the main themes in the film are staples of most stories—love and class—Capra is able to weave them together into a charming tale. With such common themes, it could easily have become a sappy, mushy mess. Capra, however, gives the film a realistic touch of humanity that appeals to the audience and makes the film interesting and entertaining. The scenes with “the Walls of Jericho” and the bus full of people singing “The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze” all provide a touch of humor and realism endearing to all who watch it.
 
     Perhaps it is pre-WWII nostalgia that makes “It Happened One Night” so appealing— a time before the world knew the true horrors man was capable of, or the universal themes of love and class. Whatever the case, “It Happened One Night” is a comedic gem that should be seen and enjoyed by all.